1. Field of the Invention
The present invention has to do with decorative inlaid sheet materials such as floorcoverings having two or more printed layers. More particularly, the invention relates to the use of multiple printed layers wherein at least two of the printed layers are separated by a matrix layer containing particles to make a product having superior visual depth.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sheet materials, in particular sheet vinyl flooring products made with particulate materials, are commonly referred to as inlaids. These products and processes for their manufacture are well known in the floor covering art and originate back to the early linoleum times where through-patterned floor coverings, based on linseed oil, cork dust and resins were developed by the industry. The process was later modified for vinyl.
Vinyl inlaid floor coverings are generally made either by embedding particulate materials into a plastisol or by compacting (or sintering) particulate materials into a patterned mass. Various printing techniques are used to create desired design effects for most applications.
Decorative sheet-type materials having multiple printed layers are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,258 to Faust et al. discloses an embossed decorative surface covering material such as sheet vinyl flooring which can include two printed layers separated by a cured, foamed plastic layer. Another decorative surface covering having two printed layers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,212 to Wiley et al. The two printed layers in Wiley et al. are separated by a substantially translucent or transparent layer and the second printed layer, overlaying the translucent or transparent layer, is comprised of an ink containing decorative particles which is selectively deposited.
Inlaid floor coverings having particulate materials embedded in a plastisol are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,691 to Potosky et al. which discloses a method for making inlaid sheet materials using decorative chips or flakes. The chips or flakes are deposited on a layer of wet, tacky, ungelled plastisol which is optionally printed. As the chips or flakes are deposited, the ungelled plastisol is continuously moving forwardly and upwardly at an angle greater than the angle of repose for the decorative chips or flakes. At the same time, the surface of the ungelled plastisol is vibrated so that excess chips or flakes which have not adhered to the surface slide backwardly toward the place where they were deposited. The chip or flake coated surface is then processed under pressure at elevated temperatures whereby the wet, tacky, ungelled plastisol and the decorative chips or flakes are compressed into a single layer and the ungelled plastisol is transformed into a gelled plastisol.
In Kaminsky U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,727, resinous polymer sheet materials having selective decorative effects are disclosed. The sheet materials comprise a resinous polymer layer which is printed with a pattern or design having relatively dark and relatively light colored portions. The printed layer is coated with a second resinous polymer layer having decorative chips or flakes embedded therein. The decorative chips or flakes are relatively small or flat and comprise a very thin layer of translucent or transparent platelets having a refractive index relative to surrounding material which causes certain light wave interference and color absorptive effects. The product has a non-uniform nacreous appearance.
Instead of the chips, flakes or granules heretofore generally used in the production of inlaids, it has recently been found advantageous to use spheroidal resinous particles, sometimes referred to in the art as pearls, beads or color crystals, for certain applications. A method for preparing such spheroidal resinous particles from plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is disclosed in Erb. U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,900.
Residential floor coverings having a layer of spheroidal resinous particles in a resinous polymer layer overcoating a printed pattern or design are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,516. The spheroidal resinous particles may be transparent, translucent or opaque; colored or non-colored. However, the matrix layer containing the particles must be sufficiently transparent or translucent to allow the underprint to show through so that the printed pattern or design will be visible.
Commercial floor coverings having a dense layer of spheroidal resinous particles are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 362,344, filed Jun. 6, 1989. In this case, the particles are deposited in sufficient density to essentially prevent the underlying layer or layers from showing through.
It has now been found in accordance with the present invention that inlaid sheet materials having superior and unexpected visual depth can be manufactured by separating at least two printed layers with an adhesive matrix layer containing particles, preferably spheroidal resinous particles, wherein said adhesive matrix layer permits the underprint to show through so that the underprinted layer will contribute to the visual effect of the end product.